The Consequences Of A Hacked Website
CyStack Editor
It is a disaster for admins and business owners when hackers attack their websites. It can completely destroy or damage your business. So, what is the price for a hacked website? How does it affect your business? We will find the answers to these questions.
Consequences of getting hacked
Besides the cost of fixing the website, there are many hidden costs related to hacking. The following are the most common consequences:
Cost of fixing the website
You need to pay an external or internal development team to recover your website. Such an amount of money is much more than the cost of website security. Companies have to reduce the budget for security improvement and spend on fixing. Recovery cost is the first loss that every company has to face.
Loss of revenue due to downtime
For an e-commerce company, most of its revenue comes from its websites. The more users visit the website, the higher the conversion rate a company will get. And a high conversion rate leads to a valuable platform. When your website is unavailable for a while, you might lose a large amount of expected revenue. And the size of this amount depends on the duration of the downtime.
Data breaches
Your website might contain important information, including customer information, and parter information. If hackers attack your website, they will view, leak or damage the information. And data breaches can make your business shut down. Of course, you are the one who will pay for it. Besides, you might be a victim of a ransom attack if your website contains users’ private data. To completely and timely recover your data, you should store it somewhere else. Don’t choose only one provider for storage service, or data recovery service. You should choose at least two providers.
Google Blacklist
Google is trying to make the internet a safe place for everyone. Google bots are always trying to find malicious codes on every website. If they find them, they will label your website with “This site may be hacked” or “This site may harm your computer”. The cost paid to be off the blacklist is the most painful one. It is a nightmare when your users or partners see the label “This site may harm your computer” under your brand.
It is not the end of the story. Google does not remove the warning label immediately. Only after 1 or 2 weeks, does Google remove the label and delete your brand from the blacklist. During this time, there might be a lot of users staying away from your website because of the warning label. Additionally, you might lose a bunch of money from the decrease in internet traffic.
Losing loyal customers
It is the fact that only one time being hacked can affect your company’s reputation. And your business is still influenced by the attack even when your company is out on the blacklist. Moreover, users will hesitate to provide sensitive information in the future.
Bad influence on the marketing campaign
You are preparing for a big marketing campaign. And Google lists you on the blacklist, which definitely will affect your business. You need to delay your marketing campaign or even cancel. So companies not only lost expected revenue but also money for campaign preparation.
How to protect your website from attacks?
To reduce the threats of attacks, you need to improve your website security ability. You also need to discover and fix vulnerabilities as soon as possible. Nowadays, more and more malware is used to exploit the vulnerabilities of websites.
Luckily, cybersecurity is growing. New technologies to defend against malicious attacks are increasing. If your security system is out of date, it might omit critical vulnerabilities. Remember that it is better to spend on security than on costs paid for losses and damages.
Let’s take action
In conclusion, a hacked website causes serious consequences like extra costs or reputation. Sometimes, this price is incredibly high.
“Every minute that passed, one website is hacked in the world. Vietnam ranks 19th among countries that have the most hacked websites.”
“Prevention is better than cure.”. So, companies should invest in security as soon as possible.
